The world

> Apricot culture and

of Horticulture
breeding studies in Turkey
Bayram Murat Asma, Adalet Mısırlı, Nihal Acarsoy Bilgin and Makbule Yanar

XXX. INTERNATIONAL
HORTICULTURAL CONGRESS
12-16 AUGUST 2018
ISTANBUL / TURKEY
www.ihc2018.org

Introduction
Apricots are outstanding summer fruits,
with their beautiful attractive colour, deli-
cious sweet taste, aroma and high vitamin
and mineral content. Consumers can pur-
chase and use apricots and apricot products
almost year-round with diverse harvesting
times, different colours, shapes, sizes and ■ Figure 1. Various
processed products. Apricots have always processed apricot
been considered a significant function- products.
al food source for human health in Turkey
because of their high content of active com-
pounds such as vitamin A, sugar, and miner-
als, and because of their phenolic content
and dietary fibre. In addition to producing
apricots for fresh fruit consumption, Turkey
also produces various types of processed
apricots, such as dried, preserved, pulp, jam,
marmalade, nectar, and even pickles (Figure
1). The sweet kernels of apricot are used for
cookies, and bitter kernels for cosmetics and
pharmaceutical purposes.
Apricots originated from China, Central Asia
A B
and the Near East. Apricots arrived in Anatolia,
and particularly in their second homeland of ■ Figure 2. An apricot orchard (A) and fruit drying (B) in Malatya approximately 100 years ago.
Malatya province, from these centres of origin
via the Asian campaign of Alexander the Great ■ Figure 3. A 130-year-old apricot tree
or along the Silk Road. From there, apricots in Malatya (apricot trees normally
spread to the Balkans and Europe. Perhaps live for approximately 40-50 years).
for this reason, apricots are called “Kajszi”,
“Kajsija” and “Kajsi” in various European coun- The most important apricot production
tries, which is similar to their Turkish name of region of Turkey is eastern Anatolia. There are
“Kayısı” (Faust et al., 1998). 123,000 ha in production, 10.3 million trees
Apricots have been produced commercially and an average of 413,000 t annual produc-
for centuries in Turkey (Figures 2 and 3) tion in this region. Eastern Anatolia accounts
and production has been steadily increasing. for 59% of total production in Turkey, and the
According to the latest records, there are Mediterranean, Central Anatolia and Aegean
approximately 17.8 million trees, and fresh regions are the other important apricot areas
fruit production reached 700,000 t in 2015. of Turkey (Table 2; Figures 4 and 5).
Quite big fluctuations in fruit production Malatya is especially suitable for dry apricot
have been observed over the years, mainly production because of its fertile soils and its
because late spring frosts sometimes affect climate, which includes cool winters and warm,
the yield. For instance, the late spring frosts dry summers. The majority of existing apricot
that occurred shortly after fruit set in 2014 cultivars in Malatya are suitable for producing
resulted in significant losses and production dried apricots. Sixty-three percent of the trees
dropped to 8,000 t that year (Table 1). The are ‘Hacihaliloğlu’, 32% ‘Kabaaşı’ and 5% are
issue of spring frosts is the main factor that other cultivars such as ‘Soğancı’, ‘Hasanbey’,
restricts expansion of the industry. ‘Çataloğlu’ and ‘Zerdali’ (Asma, 2011).

Vo l ume 56 | Number 3 | 2016 15

A B

C D

■■ Figure 4. Various apricot orchards in different production areas in Anatolia:
A) Malatya, B) Iğdır, C) Erzincan, and D) Nevşehir provinces.
Malatya province produces 400,000-600,000
t of fresh apricots and 100,000-150,000 t of
dried apricots annually, some of which are
exported (Table 3, Figure 6). Harvested at the
stage that is very suitable for drying (Figure
7), high quality dried apricots are produced
in Malatya, and are subsequently exported to
about 100 countries (Asma, 2007).
Between 80 and 85% of the world’s dried
apricot exports originate from the Malatya
province in Turkey. Malatya’s high quality
dried apricots are very well known and are
preferred by consumers worldwide.
The other important apricot growing cen-
tres in Turkey are: Erzincan province, Aras
Valley (Iğdır-Kağızman), Mersin province
(particularly Mut district), Elazığ province,
Kahramanmaraş province (especially Elbistan
vicinity), Sivas, Çoruh Valley, Kayseri, Niğde,
Hatay, Nevşehir, İzmir, Manisa (Salihli),
Sakarya, Bilecik, Konya and Ankara provinces.
In general, fresh apricots are grown in the
southern and western regions, whereas dried
apricot production is located in the eastern
and central regions of the country. The Mut
area in the Mediterranean region is well
known for very early ripening apricots, and
the outstanding cultivars are: ‘Alyanak’, ‘Şam’,
‘Şekerpare’, ‘Aprikoz’ (‘Şalak’), ‘Karacabey’,
‘Sakıt 2’ and ‘Tokaloğlu’. In the Mediterranean
region, apricots are often planted together
with olives in the same orchard (Figure 8).
The earliest harvests take place in the first
week of May in the Mediterranean region
(Mut county of Mersin province). These fresh
cultivars are generally marketed domestical-
ly, although a few have been exported, main-
ly to European countries. Apricots grown
in Malatya are harvested in July, and are
generally dried in the traditional way, i.e. in
the open field, although recently, advanced
drying facilities are being utilised more
often (Asma, 2007). The open field, traditional
infrastructures for drying are still common
because there is plenty of sunlight available
and the humidity remains low during the dry-
ing period (Figure 9). Typically, women have
become experts in the knowledge required
to dry apricots for high quality products
(Figure 10). The drying process is completed
mostly within three to five days, and the
end product is stored in suitable warehous-
es (Figure 11). Dried apricots are classified
according to their drying types as follows:
‘Şekerpare’ (shaped without kernel), ‘Çir’ (SO2
treated and dried with kernel) and ‘Kabuk’
(split into two parts with no kernel).
Turkish people love apricot trees with all of
their beauties from flowers to the yellow-
ing leaves in autumn (Figure 12). There is a
very popular apricot culture associated with
Turkey, especially in Malatya, where apricots
are almost synonymous with the name of the
city. A contest for the best quality apricot is
organised every year (Figure 13), and an apri-
cot statue has been erected by the Malatya
Metropole Municipality (Figure 14).
As previously mentioned, the Turkish apricot
industry is steadily growing, both in terms of
overall production and in exports. Because
of the suitable climatic conditions, soil and
genetic resources, successful expansion of
the industry in the future is anticipated.
Interest in organic products from many con-
sumers around the world has also affected

16 C h r o n i c a H o r t i c u l t u r a e
 ■ Table 1. Fresh and dried apricot
production in Turkey (TUİK,
2016; Anonymous, 2016).

Years Fresh (t) Dried (t)

2011 665,295 146,540

2012 776,940 187,469
2013 798,034 115,945
2014 288,520 8,210
2015 701,460 84,550

■ Figure 5. Geographical regions of

Turkey. The region growing the
greatest proportion of apricots,
Malatya, is highlighted in green.

■ Figure 6. Apricot orchards in Malatya, the most important dried apricot centre in the world. the Turkish apricot industry. Organic fresh and
dried apricot production in Turkey dates back
■ Table 2. The regional distribution of fresh apricot production in Turkey in 2015 (TUİK, 2016). to the 1980s, and it has been steadily increas-
ing. It is expected that production using Good
Regions Area Number of trees Fresh apricot Agricultural Practices and using organic prac-
(ha) production (t) tices will continue to increase, along with
greater consumer demand for these products.
Eastern Anatolia 94,673 10,346,521 412,730
Mediterranean 20,703 4,515,054 226,942 Apricot improvement
Central Anatolia 4,941 1,865,828 31,067 studies in Turkey
Aegean 1,790 698,341 13,485
South-eastern Anatolia 739 262,936 3,390
Selections
Marmara 539 339,611 6,245 Apricot breeding studies have traditionally
been largely focused on selections from the
Black Sea 247 193,270 1,911
rich diversity of natural flora in Turkey. Until
about 30 to 35 years ago, about half of the
■ Table 3. The fresh and dried apricot export figures for Turkey by years (FAO, 2016). apricot trees that were planted in commer-
cial orchards were wild apricot types called
Years Dried exports Dried export Fresh exports Fresh export ‘Zerdali’, because vegetative propagation
(t) revenue (t) revenue was not widespread. For this reason, the
(1000 US $) (1000 US $) words “Zerdali” and “Hüdai” are often used
2007 105,031 170,982 14,897 11,043 to refer to apricot trees that have been prop-
agated directly from seed. However, over the
2008 98,178 313,496 22,101 31,968
last three decades, commercially registered
2009 101,234 278,866 18,446 20,595 cultivars have been almost exclusively used
2010 92,687 350,602 25,845 26,641 for new orchard plantings, and the ‘Zerdali’
2011 90,321 360,907 28,489 28,936 population is sharply decreasing. Its share

Vo l ume 56 | Number 3 | 2016 17

 ■■ Figure 7. Apricot fruit ready to harvest for drying.

■■ Figure 8. Apricot and olive trees in the same ■■ Figure 9. In Turkey fresh apricots are generally
orchard in the Mediterranean area of Turkey. dried in open areas with direct sunlight.

■■ Figure 10. Women are the masters of apricot drying in Turkey. ■■ Figure 11. Dried apricots are among the rare fruit products that can
be stored for a long period of time without losing nutritional value.

in Turkey is now less than 6%. For this rea-
son, apricot improvement studies are con-
centrating on cross-breeding and, to some
extent, advanced techniques.
The first apricot cultivar improvement program
in Turkey was initiated in 1933 in the Malatya
area by Professor Ülkümen, who focused on
identifying morphologic, physiological and
biological properties of natural apricot popu-
lations (Ülkümen, 1936). Following on from this
work, the Malatya Apricot Research Station
released some very successful commercial cul-
tivars through intensive selection processes,
including ‘Şekerpare’ and ‘Alyanak’ between
1941 and 1945; ‘Soğancı’, ‘Kabaaşı’, and ‘Çata-
loğlu’ between 1965 and 1971, and ‘Kadıoğlu’,
‘Ağerik’, ‘Ordubat’, ‘Yeğen’, ‘Ziraat Okulu’ and
‘Adilcevaz’ between 1974 and 1977 (Asma, 2015).
Subsequently, 44 new cultivars were select-
ed in the Mediterranean region (İskenderun,
Mersin and Antalya) between 1979 and 1983.
Of them, one type is extremely early (ripens
on 20 April), and 15 are very early (1-15 May).
A very popular apricot group called ‘Sakıt’

18 C h r o n i c a H o r t i c u l t u r a e
■ Figure 12. The yellowing apricot leaves at autumn create a beautiful landscape.

■ Figure 13. Apricots selected as the highest

quality at an apricot contest in Malatya.

Malatya (Darende district), 14 late ripening

types from Erzincan, a selection that has very
suitable properties for drying from Elazığ
(Baskil district), 28 types tolerant to late
spring frosts from Van (Gevaş district), and
seven drying and six fresh types in Malatya
and its vicinity. All of them have been char-
acterised and are being maintained within
orchard germplasm collections.
Clonal selection studies have also been car-
ried out. For example, in a clonal selection
project implemented in Sivas (Gürün district),
17 superior clones from the ‘Hacihaliloğolu’
cultivar have been selected and registered
(Akça and Aşkın, 1995). Seven clones from
‘Kabaaşı’ and 12 from ‘Hasanbey’ have been
registered by the Apricot Research Institute
in Malatya and evaluations on these clones
are continuing (Anonymous, 2010).

Cross-breeding
The first cross-breeding program for apricot
cultivar development was initiated at the
■ Figure 14. Apricots are one of the most popular cultural icons Alata Horticultural Research Institute located
of Anatolia. A 15-m tall apricot statue in Malatya. in Mersin province in 1989, entitled “Table apri-
cot variety development by cross pollination”.
has also been developed during this project called ‘Levent’, which requires 165-180 days The outcome of this project was five new reg-
period (Ayanoglu and Kaşka, 1995). to mature, was developed from this program. istered commercial cultivars which are being
In addition, nine outstanding types were Many other successful apricot selection proj- propagated and planted, particularly in coast-
developed through another selection program ects have been undertaken throughout the al areas. They are: ‘Çağataybey’, ‘Çağrıbey’,
using the local population in the eastern part country by various scientists from both the ‘Alatayıldızı’, ‘Şahinbey’ and ‘Dr. Kaşka’.
of the country (Malatya and Elazığ provinces universities and the Ministry of Agriculture. Following this, eight promising new geno-
and Gürün district of Sivas province). A very A summary of the promising outcomes is types that are tolerant to brown rot disease
interesting, extremely late ripening cultivar, as follows: 63 different apricot types from (Monilinia laxa or Sclerotinia laxa) have been

Vo l ume 56 | Number 3 | 2016 19

 developed in another collaborative program
undertaken by Aegean University and Malatya
Apricot Research Institute. These genotypes
are suitable for both drying and fresh fruit con-
sumption (Gülcan et al., 1999). Cross-breeding
studies are being continued (Mısırlı et al.,
2012). A research project titled “Development
of late flowering apricots tolerant to the late
spring frosts through cross-breeding” start-
ed in 1993 at the Malatya Apricot Research
Institute, but, to date no selections that meet
the target criteria have been identified among
the 680 F1 progeny (Şahİn et al., 2004).
Another project was initiated by the Apricot
Research Centre of the Inönü University
(Malatya) in 1999, with the multiple objectives
of developing late ripening fresh cultivars,
early and mid-season fresh cultivars, high
quality dried apricot cultivars, and fresh and
dried cultivars that are tolerant to Sharka dis-
ease. The first successful cultivars, ‘Dilbay’ and
‘Eylül’, have been released from this program.
Properties of some released apri-
cot cultivars (short descriptions)
First cross-bred apricot cultivars in Turkey
were developed by Dr. Ayla Yıldız within the
framework of her PhD studies during the
late 1980s and 1990s. Cultivars released from
that program are: ‘Alatayıldızı’, ‘Çağataybey’,
‘Çağrıbey’, ‘Dr. Kaşka’ and ‘Şahinbey’.
‘Alatayıldızı’
Fruit weight is approximately 50 to 55 g, fruit
skin and flesh are light orange in colour and
fruit are firm. Soluble solids content at maturi-
ty ranges between 12.5 and 14.0%, fruit shape is
elliptic and symmetrical, and kernels are free-
stone and elliptic but taste a little bitter. Fruits
are juicy, highly aromatic, and attractive, and
have a high eating quality (Bİrcan et al., 2010).
‘Çağataybey’
Fruit weight at maturity ranges from 40 to
50 g, skin and flesh are orange/red in colour
over the whole fruit surface. Fruit shape is
elliptic and symmetrical, kernels are oval
and freestone, and seeds are slightly bitter.
Fruit flesh is firm, juicy, and aromatic. Both
the attractiveness and the eating quality
of the fruit are good. Fruit ripen in the first
week of June and soluble solids content
ranges between 13 and 15%.
‘Çağrıbey’
Fruit weight at maturity ranges from 40 to 50
g, and soluble solids content ranges between
13.5 and 14.5%. Fruit skin and flesh are orange
in colour, fruit shape is oval and symmetrical,
kernels are also elliptical and freestone, and
seeds are sweet. Fruit flesh is firm, juicy, and
moderately aromatic, and attractiveness and
eating quality of the fruit are quite good. They
ripen in the first week of June (Figure 15A).
20
A B
D E
■■ Figure 15. Some new apricot cultivars developed in Turkey:
A) ‘Çağrıbey’, B) ‘Alkaya’, C) ‘Dilbay’, D) ‘Eylül’, E) ‘Mihralibey’.
‘Dr. Kaşka’
Fruit weight at maturity ranges from 40 to
50 g, and skin and flesh are orange in colour.
Fruit shape is oblong and symmetrical, ker-
nels are oval and freestone and seeds are
sweet. Fruit flesh is firm, juicy, and moder-
ately aromatic, and attractiveness and eating
quality of the fruit are quite good. Soluble
solids content ranges between 12.0 and
13.5%, and fruit ripen in the last week of May.
‘Şahinbey’
Fruit weight at maturity ranges from 40 to
50 g, and skin and flesh are orange in colour.
Fruit shape is oval and symmetrical, kernels
are also oval and sweet but are not cling-
stone. Fruit flesh is moderately firm, juicy,
and aromatic, and attractiveness and eating
quality of the fruit are quite good. Soluble sol-
ids content ranges between 11.5 and 13.0%,
and fruit ripen in the second week of June.
‘Dilbay’
This is one of the early fresh apricot culti-
vars bred by Dr. Asma at the Apricot Research
Centre in Malatya İnönü University. Fruit
weight at maturity ranges from 55 to 65 g.
Fruit are elliptical in shape and skin and flesh
are light orange in colour. Soluble solids con-
tent ranges between 14 and 16%, fruit are
medium firm and have a 30-60% red skin sur-
face. Kernels are oval and sweet. Fruit take 80
to 83 days to ripen, and the chilling require-
ment is 730-840 hours (Asma, 2012) (Figure 15C).
‘Eylül’
This is an extremely late ripening culti-
var developed by Dr. Asma at the Apricot
C h r o n i c a
C
Research Centre at Malatya İnönü University.
Fruit weight at maturity ranges from 30 to 35
g. Fruit are oval and fruit skin and flesh are
yellow in colour. Soluble solids content rang-
es between 16 and 18 %. Fruit are medium
firm and the period for their development is
150-155 days. Fruit ripen in the last week of
August (Figure 15D).
‘Alkaya’
This cultivar was developed through a clonal
selection project carried out at the Malatya
Apricot Research Institute. It is being used for
both fresh and dried consumption purposes.
Fruit weight at maturity ranges from 35 to 45
g and soluble solids content ranges between
22 and 24%. Fruit skin and flesh are yellow in
colour, fruit are oval, firmly textured, juicy,
highly aromatic, and are very attractive with
excellent eating quality. Fruit ripen in the
first week of July (Figure 15B).
‘Mihralibey’
This cultivar was developed as part of an
apricot seedling selection project carried
out at the Erzincan Horticulture Research
Institute. Fruit weight at maturity ranges
from 30 to 35 g and soluble solids content
ranges between 19-20%. Total acidity ranges
from 0.50 to 0.55%, fruit skin and flesh are
yellow in colour, and fruit are oval and firmly
textured. Fruit ripen in the second week of
September (Figure 15E).
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr. Şahin Anıl for his
valuable contribution to this manuscript and
Orhan Alkaya for supplying apricot photos.
H o r t i c u l t u r a e
 > References
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cultivar Hacıhaliloğlu. Acta Hortic. 384, 169–172.
http://dx.doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1995.384.23
Anonymous. (2010). Project Summaries (in Turkish)
(Malatya: Apricot Research Institute).
Anonymous. (2016). The provincial records of
Malatya Agricultural Directorate of the Ministry
of Food Agriculture and Livestock.
Asma, B.M. (2007). Malatya: world’s capital of apri-
cot culture. Chronica Hortic. 47 (1), 20–24.
Asma, B.M. (2011). Apricot with all aspects (in Turk-
ish) (Ankara: Uyum Ajans).
Asma B.M. (2012). A new early-ripening apricot,
‘Dilbay’. HortScience 47 (9), 1367–1368.
Asma, B.M. (2015). An historical perspective of apri-
cot culture (in Turkish) (Ankara: Uyum Ajans).
Ayanoglu, H. and Kaşka, N. (1995). Apricot selec-
tion studies in the Mediterranean region of
Turkey. Acta Hortic. 384, 177–182. http://dx.doi.
org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1995.384.25
Bircan, M., Pınar, H., Yılmaz, C., Paydaş Kargi, S.,
Kaşka, N., and Yıldız, A. (2010). The apricot breed-
ing programme among some Turkish and for-
eign cultivars. Acta Hortic. 862, 103–108. http://
dx.doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2010.862.15
FAO. (2016). www.fao.org.
Faust, M., Suranyi, D., and Nyujto, F. (1998). Origin and
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resistance of Hacıhaliloğlu apricot variety against
Monilinia (Sclerotinia laxa Aderh et Ruhl) through
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> Bayram Murat Asma > Adalet Mısırlı > Nihal Acarsoy Bilgin > Makbule Yanar

> About the authors harvesting period (early maturing, in İzmir, Turkey. Her research Makbule Yanar has been working
Dr. Bayram Murat Asma is profes- late maturing) and disease resis- interests focus on fruit breeding, at the Department of Plant
sor at Inonu University, Faculty of tance (especially Sharka disease). especially apricot, pear and peach. Breeding at Malatya Apricot
Agriculture, Department of Hor- As a result of his early work, he E-mail: adalet.misirli@ege.edu.tr Research Institute since 2000.
ticulture in Malatya, Turkey. His developed ‘Dilbay’ (early maturing Dr. Nihal Acarsoy Bilgin is research Her research focuses on col-
research interest focuses on fruit cultivar) and ‘Eylül’ (late maturing assistant at Aegean University, lection, conservation and char-
breeding and genetics of apricot. cultivar). E-mail: bayram.asma@ Faculty of Agriculture, Depart- acterization of fruit genetic
Dr. Asma is the Director of the inonu.edu.tr, bmasma@gmail.com ment of Horticulture in İzmir, resources, molecular biology
Apricot Research Centre at Inonu Dr. Adalet Mısırlı is professor at Aege- Turkey. She is working on fruit and plant breeding of apricot
University. He currently focuses an University, Faculty of Agricul- cultivation and breeding. E-mail: through hybridization. E-mail:
on extending the apricot fruit ture, Department of Horticulture nihalacarsoy@yahoo.com makbuleynr@hotmail.com

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